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Press & Sun-Bulletin

Editor's Note: This story was first published on Feb. 7, 2006 in the Press & Sun-Bulletin.

Outcome of the football game notwithstanding, Isaiah Kacyvenski experienced a mental scrapbook stuffed full of gratifying memories jammed into one Sunday in Detroit.

"The Super Bowl for me was everything I thought it'd be and then some," he said Monday night from his Kirkland, Wash., home."It was awesome, something I'll cherish until my dying day."

For Kacyvenski, a Union-Endicott High graduate and Seattle Seahawks special teams captain, the frustrations that accompanied the 21-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers will sting for a spell— the penalties, Willie Parker's 75-yard, tide-turning dash for a third-quarter score, a critical turnover that squelched a Seattle scoring opportunity, etc.

"I can understand now, the hardest thing is to lose the Super Bowl," he said. "You know you've worked so hard to get there and you're on the brink, but ... "

Nevertheless, etched in his mind will be such moments as pregame ceremonies and being in the presence of Super Bowl MVPs from Bart Starr to Franco Harris to Jerry Rice and most of the rest. One of them, in fact, New England quarterback Tom Brady, singled out Kacyvenski to wish him well just before kickoff.

After Brady tossed the coin at midfield and just before the teams returned to their respective sidelines, Kacyvenski said, "He kind of snagged me by the shoulder and said, 'I just wanted to say good luck.' That was cool."

And there was a special message from coach Mike Holmgren just before the Seahawks emerged from under the canopy and behind the curtain to take the field. Holmgren instructed his players as a unit to run onto the playing surface and head left toward the sideline.

Then the coach paused for a few seconds, turned back around, and reminded his Harvard-educated six-year veteran positioned among the players first to hit the field, " 'And Kaz, left is THIS way,' " Kacyvenski said. "For him to find a way to bring some levity in such an intense situation, I thought that was pretty funny."

Intense, most certainly, would be an apt description of Kacyvenski's stone-faced, eyes-front demeanor at midfield for the coin toss— by design, that is.

"I was ready to go, I was there for one reason and that was to win a football game," he said. ";I wanted to make a point. It was almost like a stare-down, and I wanted (the Steelers) to know that we weren't going to be intimidated."

As for the game itself, he said the Seahawks were prepared, and tied none of the miscues to Super Bowl jitters or the like. Instead, Kacyvenski simply tipped his cap to the Steelers.

"It's the Super Bowl and everybody's excited, but you go out on that field and it's 11-on-11, you're not thinking about any of that stuff," he said of the hype surrounding the contest. "The key word was frustration. I can't fathom that we lost that game. Hand it to the Steelers, they made the plays when they had to.

"It sounds stupid, but it's as simple as making the plays when you've got the opportunities— and we didn't make the plays."

A group of 16 family members and friends in attendance at Ford Field further enhanced the experience for Kacyvenski. "It was really emotional for me," he said. "I had to catch myself a couple of times" to remind himself that he was there for business, to play football.

A postgame party had been planned, regardless of the outcome, to bring the Seahawks players and their families together to celebrate their season-long accomplishments. "It was nice, but nobody was super-cheery for it," he said.

Ahead today for Kacyvenski will be an exit physical, a meeting with the strength coach, likely another with his position coach, and assorted loose ends to be tied up. Immediate plans call for Isaiah, wife Lauren and 2-year-old Isaiah Jr., to stay put in the Northwest until the arrival of Lilliana Kacyvenski, who is due early next month.

It will time for healing of body and mind, to get over the loss but to relish the experience.

"I'm almost to the point right now, I'm done thinking about it," he said. "It's tough right now."

But, he added, "For four hours straight, I got chills up my spine about every 10 minutes. It was so special."